General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The Truth About Those Dollar Stores [View all]Kaleva
(36,445 posts)"Dollar stores are changing the way we shop. And given that they appear to be here to stay, it pays to know how to shop there, whether they are your only option, or one of many. "
I keep tabs on my stock at home and write down what I need to replenish that stock and how much of each item. DG usually gives $5 off for each $25 spent for the following Saturday so Saturday is my big shopping day. I'm in town often doing errands so I'll stop at the DG to purchase an inexpensive item I actually need to get a coupon. I do this to get as many as I need during the week. Then Friday I look at my need list and break it up into sections just over $25 each. Last Saturday had 3 such lists in hand with 3 coupons. I went into the store with list #1. Spent just over $25 but with the coupon, the final cost was just a little over $20. checked out, put the purchases in the car and went into the store again with list #2 and a coupon and repeated the process for list #3. So, in the end, instead of spending a little over $75, I spent a little over $60. With the DG digital coupons I sometimes download to my app, I can save even more.
My wife prefers brands like Dawn, Cascade, Tide, Bounty, Honey Nut Cheerios and a few other name brands so I'll look at the DG website for digital coupons for these items and with the $5 off for every $25 spent coupons, I can reduce the price of them a good amount.
"Even as a third-generation dollar store shopper, Ive been dubious about these stores being places to save. So I was surprised that all of us CR shoppers found that a dollar store was less expensive, on a unit-cost basis, than supermarkets for our items."
The big reason why I shop at the local DG store. Those who read my posts in the Frugal Living group know that I strive to be frugal. Living on SSDI and trying to get the biggest bang for the money I have is a priority.
"We had more trouble at dollar stores finding what we needed. For example, many of us found that a dollar store might have only one brand of dish soap, or just single-serving containers of popular breakfast cereals."
I haven't had that experience shopping at the local store. It carries a number of brands of dish soap along with the store brand. As for breakfast cereal, there's a row with a wide variety of brands. My wife prefers Honey Nut Cheerios so that's what I buy.
https://www.consumerreports.org/dollar-stores/the-truth-about-those-dollar-stores/